My thoughts on the Phillies season.

Spring Training: a pair of home runs hurt the Phils as they lose to the Twins, 6-4.

A couple of home runs given up by Roy Halladay hurt the Phils as they lose to the Twins, 6-4.

The Twins took the lead in the first as, with two men out, Josh Willingham hits a solo home run, his first home run of the spring, giving the Twins a 1-0 lead. The Phils tied the game up at one-all in the second as, with two men on, and with one man out, Carlos Ruiz hits an RBI infield single, knocking in John Mayberry, Jr. who had earlier walked, then moved up to third on Dom Brown’s single, while sending Brown, who had just singled, on to third. The Phils then took the lead as Freddy Glavis hits an RBI force out, 4-6, knocking in Brown, as Ruiz is wiped out at second base, giving the Phils a 2-1 lead. The Twins retied the game at two-all in the third as, with two men on, and with one man out, Willingham hits an RBI single, scoring Alexi Casilla, who had earlier singled, then stopped at second base on Denard Span’s single, while Span, who had earlier singled, would move up to third base on the late throw to the plate. Two batters later, with runners still on the corners, and now with two men out, Chris Parmelee hits a three-run home run, his first home run of the spring, scoring both Span and Willingham, giving the Twins a 5-2 lead. The Phils got a run back in their half of the third as, with two men on, and with two men out, Mayberry hits an RBI double, knocking in Hunter Pence, who had earlier been safe at first on a 6-4 force out, wiping out Shane Victorino at second base, who, in turn, had been safe at first on an earlier force out, 4-6, as Placido Polanco, who had started the inning off with a single, was wiped out at second base, before moving up to second base on Ty Wigginton’s single, making it a 5-3 Twin’s lead, while sending Wigginton , who had just singled, on to third. The Phils then cut the Twins’ lead down to 5-4 in the fourth as, with two men on, and with one man out, Polanco hits an RBI double, scoring Ruiz, who had earlier singled, then moved up to second base on Jimmy Rollins’ walk, while sending Rollins, who had just walked, on to third. The Twins would get that run back in the eighth as, with runners on second and third, and with one man out, Rene Rivera, who had earlier singled, then stopped at third on Ray Chang’s double, scored on Erik Kratz’s passed ball, giving the Twins a 6-4 lead, while Chang, who had just doubled, would stop at third base. That would be the final score as Lester Oliveros recorded his first save of the spring by getting Scott Podsednik to fly out to center to end the game.

Roy Halladay (0-1, 10.57) took the lost as he lasted only two and two-thirds innings, giving up five runs on seven hits and a walk, as he struck out three. Joe Savery, Jonathan Papelbon and Michael Stutes combined for four and two-thirds scoreless innings, giving up three hits (Savery (2), Papelbon (1)) and a walk (Papelbon) between them, while striking out five (Savery (2), Papelbon (1), Stutes (2)). Jake Diekman pitched an inning, giving up an unearned run on two hits and a passed ball, while striking out three. Michael Cisco pitched a 1-2-3 inning. Jason Marquis (1-1, 9.35) got the win as he pitched four innings, giving up four runs on eight hits and two walks, while striking out a batter. Jeff Manship recorded his first hold of the spring as he pitched a 1-2-3 inning, striking out a batter. Jeff Gray collected his second hold of the spring as he pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a walk. Samuel Deduno and Casey Fien both recorded their first hold of the spring as they combined for two scoreless innings, giving up a hit (Deduno) between them, while striking out one (Fien). Lester Oliveros recorded his first save of the spring as he pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit, while he struck out one.

The Phils had ten hits in the game, with Placido Polanco (Single, Double, RBI) and Carlos Ruiz (Singles, RBI) both leading the team with two hits each. Pete Orr (Double), Shane Victorino (Single), Hunter Pence (Single), Ty Wigginton (Single), John Mayberry, Jr. (Double, RBI) and Dom Brown (Single), had the other six Phils’ hits. Freddy Galvis knocked in the final Phil run with a force out. The Phils also recorded three walks and a stolen base (Galvis).

The Phils (5-7) next grapefruit league game will be against the Braves (1-10) at Bright House Field in Clearwater tomorrow afternoon. The game’s start time is 1:05 pm EDT.

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